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T. C. R. SHEPHERD COMMINUTING APPARATUS Filed May 20, 1965 June 6, 1967FIG. 2.

IMVEZMTQE T C. R, fik lv [MUN/L 'f p frafi VZ m/VQ Ar oewzv UnitedStates Patent 3,323,728 COMMINUTING APPARATUS Thomas Cropper RyleyShepherd, Arbour Hill, Ross-on-Wye, England Filed May 20, 1965, Ser. No.457,278 8 Claims. (Cl. 241--36) This invention concerns improvementsrelating to comminuting apparatus in Which waste material to becomminuted is fed downwardly into the apparatus from a hopper or thelike. With large apparatus, such as used in catering establishments,hospitals and so on there is a risk that a careless operator willmanually push the material from the hopper into the comminutingapparatus with the attendant risk that his hand may become entangled inthe comminutor. This risk is substantially increased when the operatoris incapable of appreciating the danger involved. Thus, it is a commonpractice to employ the patients in mental institutions to performcertain tasks, commonly of a menial nature such as the disposal ofgarbage and waste. Such persons may be incapable of appreciating thedangers involved even although they are properly instructed. An objectof this invention is to provide a comminuting apparatus in which therisk of injury to a careless operator as indicated above issubstantially reduced or eliminated.

According to this invention comminuting apparatus comprises acomminutor, a chute down which the material to be comminuted passes froma mouth of said chute to said comminutor, an electric motor to drive thecomminutor, a cover mounted over said chute to close and open said mouthof the chute, and switch means to control said electric motor andactuatable by movement of said cover so that when the cover is opened tobeyond a predetermined degree the motor is stopped, said chute and saidcover being so constructed and arranged that the act of thrusting an armor other elongate member into the chute to a certain extent,sufliciently short of the comminutor that no damage results, opens thecover to beyond said predetermined degree to stop the motor. The coveris preferably openable to a suflicient degree for waste material to bereadily fed into said chute without the motor being stopped by saidswitch means.

Advantageously the chute is inclined downwards and to one side from itsmouth and the cover is hingedly mounted to the opposite side of themouth.

An embodiment of apparatus in accordance with the invention ishereinafter described by way of example with reference to theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of the apparatus and FIG. 2 is a plan viewof such apparatus.

The apparatus has a comminutor 1 comprising an impeller 2 rotatablewithin a ring of teeth 3, the material to be comminuted passing betweenthe impeller and the ring of teeth and being pulverized or brokentherebetween. Water may be supplied directly into the comminutor to passtherethrough to a drain pipe D together with the comminuted material.The waste material is placed in a hopper 4 having a dumping floor 5including a sloping wall 6 down which a stream of water flows fromsparge water supply piping 7, suitably controlled to Wash down thehopper when desired. The lower end of the sloping wall leads along thefloor into the inlet or mouth 8' of the chute 8 which extends downwardlyfrom the hopper to the comminutor, the sloping wall being entirely toone side of said mouth.

A flat, rectangular hinged cover 9 is provided to close the mouth of thechute. The cover is hinged at 10 to that side of the mouth remote fromor opposite the floor of the hopper so that material placed on thehopper so that material placed on the hopper may be pushed into thechute, the cover when opened constituting a deflector which facestowards the sloping wall of the hopper and assists in directing thematerial into the chute. The cover has a handle 11 and its free edgeseats on a ledge 12 bordering the mouth.

The chute is downwardly inclined to the horizontal in the oppositedirection to that at which the sloping floor of the hopper is directedto the horizontal. Accordingly waste material is fed towards the mouthof the chute in one direction and thereafter downwardly through thechute in an opposite direction.

The hinged cover 9 actuates a switch means in the circuit of theelectric motor 13 which drives the comminutor, e.g. by pulleys andbelting 14 with a tensioning device 14', the arrangement being that whenthe cover is closed the motor is operative to drive the comminutor. Theswitch means maintains the motor operative until the cover has beenopened to a predetermined degree, e.g. until the cover, which in itsclosed position is horizontal, has been raised to a predetermined angleA e.g. about 30. Beyond this position the cover actuates the switchmeans to stop the motor.

As illustrated the switch means may include a finger 15 extendingrigidly from the cover beyond the hinge and co-acting with a switchmechanism 16 fixed to the framework 17 of the apparatus, so as to eflectthe desired switch action.

Assume now that a careless operator introduces his arm into the chute 8.This can only be done from a side of the cover remote from its hinge andthe act of thrusting an arm through the mouth of the chute requires, ifthe arm is to pass downwardly through the chute to any substantialextent, that the arm is brought generally into alignment with the axisof the chute. The cover when open to said predetermined degree (30 open)is substantially normal to the axis of the chute and effectivelyprevents ingress of the arm or other elongate member. Consequently ifthe arm is to be thrust down into the chute to any substantial extent itis necessary to move the cover further open so as to more fully exposethe mouth and, as described above, when the cover is opened beyond saidpredetermined degree the switch means is actuated to stop the motor.

Similar consideration would apply if a careless operator endeavoured toram the waste material down the chute with a stick or the like.

It will be appreciated, however, that access to the upper end of thechute is readily possible without stopping the motor since this may bedone with the cover below said 30 position. This enables waste materialto be cleared from around the mouth of the chute and from the hopper anddirected down into the chute by the operator.

To further ensure that an operator cannot insert his arm beneath thecover and to a dangerous extent into the chute from the longitudinalsides of the apparatus, it is arranged that the hopper comprises a pairof parallel side Walls 18 between which the floor 5 extends. The sideWalls are of a height above the mouth of the chute substantially thesame as or slightly greater than the height of the free edge E of thecover above the mouth when the cover is opened to said predeterminedextent and the side walls are closely adjacent the corresponding sidesof the cover. Consequently such access to the mouth of the chutesideways of the cover is not possible without automatically stopping themotor.

In addition to the water supply piping 7, further piping 7 carried bythe framework may extend within the chute beneath the cover hinge tospray clean the underside of the cover.

The water supply means may comprise a solenoid actuated valve or othersuitable means controlled by the switch means so that the water supply,to beneath the cover at least, and the motor are stopped simultaneously.

The apparatus may include a time switch controlling the normal periodduring which the motor and the water supply to the cover remainoperative after charging the chute and closing the cover, aspredetermined for a full chute load of material. The apparatus is thusautomatically' switched ofi at the end of such period.

Therhopper may present a weir ridge formation 19. ad-

jacent the mouth of the chute. A baflie curtain 20 of plastics or othersuitable material may be suspended vertically in the chute to eliminatesplash back and reduce grinding noise from the comminutor.

The comminutor may be .of any per se known or convenient construction.

Any other suitable form of coverand hinge assembly and switch means maybe used to effect the desired switch action. For example, the switchmeans may include a cam located in a cover hinge assembly for rotarymove ment with the cover about the hinge axis to actuate a switchmechanism.

I claim:

1. Comminnting apparatus comprising a comminutor, a chute down which thematerial to be comminuted passes from a mouth of said chute to saidcomminutor, an electric motor to drive the comminutor, a cover mountedover said chute to close and open said mouth of the chute, and switchmeans to control said electric motor and actuatable by movement of saidcover so that when the cover is opened to beyond a predetermined degreethe motor is stopped, said chute and said cover being so constructed andarranged that the act of thrusting an arm or other elongate member intothe chute to a certain extent, sufficiently short of the comminutor thatno damage results, opens the cover to beyond said predetermined degreeto stop the motor.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said cover is openable to asufficient degree for waste material' to be readily fed into said chutewithout the motor being stopped by said switch means.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the chute is inclineddownwards and to one side from its mouth and the cover is hingedlymounted to the opposite side of the mouth.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3 including a hopper into which thewaste material is placed, said hopper having a dumping floor which leadsinto the mouth of the chute and is located to said one side of themouth.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4 wherein said floor of the hopper has asloping wall portion and said cover in open position constitutes adeflector which faces said sloping wall portion and assists in directingthe waste material into the chute.

6. Apparatus according to claim 4 wherein the hopper comprises sidewalls between which said floor extends and closely adjacentcorresponding sides of said cover, and of a height above the mouth ofthe chute substantially the same as or greater than the height of thefree edge of the cover above the mouth when the cover, is opened to saidpredetermined degree to stop the motor.

7. Apparatus according to claim 1 including sparge' water supply meanscomprising a solenoid-actuated valve controlled by said switch means sothat such water supply and said motor are stopped simultaneously.

8. Comminuting apparatus comprising a frame, a comminutor mounted insaid frame, a chute mounted above said comminutor and down whichmaterial to be comminuted passes from a mouth of said chute to saidcomminutor, said chute being inclined downwards and to one side fromsaid mouth, an electric motor drivingly connected to said comminutor, acover hingedly mounted over said chute and to the opposite side of saidmouth from said one side so as to close and open said mouth of thechute, and switch means including a switch mechanism located on saidframe and a switch actuating member movable with said cover to -co-actwith said switch mecha-' nism so that when said cover is opened tobeyond a pre? determined degree said motor is stopped, said chute andsaid cover being so constructed and arranged that the act of thrustingan arm or other elongate member into the chute to a certain extent,suffi-ciently short of the comminutor that no damage results, opens thecover -to beyond said predetermined degree to stop the motor.

, References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,615,626 10/1952 Powers 241 362,750,122 6/1956 Quast 241-36 X 2,813,569 11/1957 Nelson 1531052,982,483

5/1961 Heinemans 241- WILLIAM w. 'DYER, JR., Primary Examiner.

H. F. PEPPER, JR., Assistant'Examine r.

1. COMMINUTING APPARATUS COMPRISING A COMMINUTOR, A CHUTE DOWN WHICH THEMATERIAL TO BE COMMINUTED PASSES FROM A MOUTH OF SAID CHUTE TO SAIDCOMMINUTOR, AN ELECTRIC MOTOR TO DRIVE THE COMMINUTOR, A COVER MOUNTEDOVER SAID CHUTE TO CLOSE AND OPEN SAID MOUTH OF THE CHUTE, AND SWITCHMEANS TO CONTROL SAID ELECTRIC MOTOR AND ACTUATABLE BY MOVEMENT OF SAIDCOVER SO THAT WHEN THE COVER IS OPENED TO BEYOND A PREDETERMINED DEGREETHE MOTOR IS STOPPED, SAID CHUTE AND SAID COVER BEING SO CONSTRUCTED ANDARRANGED THAT THE ACT OF THRUSTING AN ARM OR OTHER ELONGATE MEMBER INTOTHE CHUTE TO A CERTAIN EXTENT, SUFFICIENTLY SHORT OF THE COMMINUTOR THATNO DAMAGE RESULTS, OPENS THE COVER TO BEYOND SAID PREDETERMINED DEGREETO STOP THE MOTOR.